[An earlier version of this post went up with just the raw quotation and with my introduction, edits, and commentary not showing up, for some reason. Sorry for the confusion.] Conservatives worry that the U. S. Constitution is being ignored. The next step is for the Constitution to be spoken against and then repudiated. That seems to be happening, even by a Supreme Court Justice! In the meantime, the rest of the world has stopped imitating America’s constitutional system, which,… Read more

Mollie Hemingway on the uproar over the Susan G. Komen foundation (which is devoted to fighting breast cancer) and its short-lived decision to stop giving money to Planned Parenthood. If you thought that the media were irreligious, you were proved wrong. They couldn’t be more religious. It’s just that their church is Planned Parenthood. Their sacrament is abortion. Any attack against their church, such as Susan G. Komen’s decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood, has been met with the most… Read more

Lars Walker is someone who hangs out at this blog fairly often. He is also an accomplished novelist. He has a new novel out entitled Troll Valley. Lars specializes in tales about Norway, especially the ancient Vikings in their transition from paganism to Christianity. (See West Oversea.) But this one is about Norwegians in Minnesota, settlers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the farms and in the small towns that would give us the Lake Woebegone… Read more

Vanderbilt is doubling down on its insistence that Christian groups on campus must admit non-Christians. What’s interesting is hearing the university try to justify that. Robert Shibley of the civil liberty group FIRE quotes Vanderbilt’s provost explaining the policy to a gathering of students, answering a question from someone in the Christian Legal Society: VANDERBILT LAW STUDENT AND CLS MEMBER PALMER WILLIAMS: I am a little confused by the fact that under your policy, I can gather with a group… Read more

The state of California, at one time, decided to permit gay marriage, but voters rallied and overturned that law. Now a federal appeals court has overturned that vote on constitutional grounds. See Court Rejects State Ban on Gay Marriage – WSJ.com. We have been told both by conservatives and liberals that the question of gay marriage should just be left up to the states. That way, different values across this great country can find expression. But here the people of… Read more

Matthew Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, has issued a statement on the federal government’s mandate that religious organizations must provide free abortion pills and contraceptives to their employees in their insurance plans. He clarifies what this will mean for Lutheran organizations and expresses his strong opposition: A Statement on Recent HHS Decision and Religious Freedom We are deeply distressed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recent decision to require nearly all private health… Read more

Russell D. Moore at Christianity Today on the Susan G. Komen foundation’s caving to Planned Parenthood: This is an important victory for Planned Parenthood and the abortion rights lobby. First of all, the association with Komen is a key piece in Planned Parenthood’s effort to present itself as a “women’s health provider” rather than simply as an abortion provider. Beyond that, the surrender of the nation’s leading breast cancer awareness group to this kind of political pressure proves the clout… Read more

Rick Santorum has won the Missouri. Colorado, and Minnesota delegate battles last night. I know we’ve talked about his faults. But all things being equal and leaving Ron Paul and electability out of the equation, wouldn’t you rather have him than Newt Gingrich? Wouldn’t you rather have him than Mitt Romney? Read more

Yesterday, February 7, was the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. (As well as being the birthday of our oldest daughter.) His novels are still gloriously readable after all these years, combining seriousness and humor in a way that has not been equaled since. Here is a worthy tribute, which compares the novelist to Augustine: Happy Birthday to our Mutual Friend » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog. What are your favorite bits from Dickens? Read more

I am always saying how I appreciate my congregation, St. Athanasius Lutheran Church, and our pastor, Rev. James Douthwaite. I would like to invite you to join us online for our daily morning prayer and devotion. It starts at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time (I know, that’s really early on the west coast) and lasts for 20-25 minutes. What we do is begin with the opening of Matins, then we do the readings from the Treasury of Daily Prayer (a Psalm,… Read more